Scores of people have been killed and dozens injured after Boko Haram insurgents attacked three villages in Nigeria’s troubled north-east region.
Approximately 30 people were killed and 20 others left injured with the militants setting entire villages on fire after the attacks, French news agency AFP reported late Tuesday.
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Mustapha Karimbe, a civilian who assisted the Nigerian military in their fight to push the Sunni militant group back, told AFP that the raids were carried out in the villages of Warwara, Mangari and Bura-Shika, in the state of Borno.
"Most of the victims were slaughtered and most of the wounded (had suffered) machete cuts," Karimbe said.
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While another witness said that Warwara was the village that suffered the most bloodshed with attackers killing 20 people. A further six were slaughtered in Bura-Shika and another four in Mangari.
The villages are near Buratai, the hometown of Nigeria's highest military chief Tukur Yusuf Buratai.
Nigeria's northeast and neighboring countries Cameroon, Chad and Niger have been victim to numerous terror attacks in recent months with Boko Haram campaigning for an Islamist state in the area.
Residents believe the attacks are in response to the pressure that the army chief is exerting on Boko Haram in counterinsurgency military operations. The Nigerian government has also vowed to end to such attacks by this month but that target seems unlikely.
December Deadline Unrealistic As Boko Haram Slaughters 30 In Borno https://t.co/4MQeTKXsIO pic.twitter.com/FwIbZspK52
— Breaking Times (@BTBreakingTimes)
December 16, 2015
Last week, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the deaths of 14 people, some of whom they decapitated, when they raided Kamuya village in Borno state and burnt it down.
The Global Terrorism Index, a report released last month by the Institute for Economic and Peace (IEP) said, that the Nigeria-based terrorist group has killed more people than Islamic State group, claiming 6,644 lives compared to 6,073 killed by their counterparts.
The Nigerian jihadists pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in March 2015.
VIDEO: Satellite Image of Boko Haram Destruction